LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 82ND LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 10, 2011

TO:	Honorable Tommy Williams, Chair, Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security
FROM:	John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1749 by Kuempel (Relating to county roads mistakenly established and maintained by an adjoining county.), As Engrossed

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would add Section 251.018 to the Transportation Code relating to county roads mistakenly established and maintained by an adjoining county.

A county that discovers a public road established and maintained by a county and considered as part of the county's road system is not located in the county shall declare by order of the commissioners court that the road lies outside the county; cease maintaining the road; and send certified copies of supporting documents to the county or counties in which the road lies and the Texas Department of Transportation. The commissioners court of the county that a road lies within may confirm the findings and include the road in the county’s road system. The county would not be required to maintain the included road with the same standards required for a county subdivision road.

A road in a county’s road system would not affect the liability of the original establishing county regarding tort for an injury that occurs before the date the road is included.

Local Government Impact

There could be a savings to a county that would no longer be required to maintain a road that is determined to be out of the original county’s jurisdiction; in addition, there could be costs to a county that would include the road in their county’s jurisdiction.

Harris County’s Engineering Leadership in the Public Infrastructure Department reported the bill should not have a fiscal impact on the county.

The Montgomery County Auditor reported the bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on the county, if any.

The Denton County Auditor reported the bill would either have no fiscal impact or it cannot be estimated.

The Texas Association of Counties (TAC) reported that although it is not possible to determine the costs in advance, it is assumed every dollar saved by a county that stops maintenance on a road would create a dollar of maintenance cost for the receiving county. Some very minor additional cost savings might accrue from the provisions in the bill; possibly creating a very slight positive fiscal impact overall. However, it is anticipated that the statute would rarely be used resulting in no fiscal impact during a typical year for most counties.

The McLennan County Engineer noted that one drawback could be that the receiving county refuses to take the road into their road system for maintenance thus rendering a maintained public road into a non-maintained public road.

Source Agencies:

LBB Staff:

JOB, KJG, TP